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Brokerage Adds Division Catering to LGBT Customers

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Dream Town Realty, based in Chicago, has launched a broker division aimed at better serving consumers who identify themselves within the lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender community. The brokerage’s new division will provide resources to LGBT consumers, and host events.

The move to add the division came after Illinois recently voted to make gay marriage legal in the state last November, Yuval Degani, Dream Town president, told Inman News. Degani also noted the importance of a division to help serve this community after a 2013 U.S. Housing and Urban Development study suggested that same-sex couples were treated less favorably than heterosexual couples when looking for rental housing online.

The brokerage’s new LGBT division has a website that also highlights the need. For example, it reads: “Not that same sex couples are so different, but the home buying process is a very personal thing. So guiding a client through the traditional heterosexual family experience of finding a home is not always optimal for the LGBT community. For example, a Chicago real estate agent who assumes the ‘norm’ might show a gay or lesbian couple a home with two separate master bathrooms and bedrooms, when they really only need one. Or the agent might assume that one person will take title and the other person will rent.”

Degani also told Inman News that he hopes the division will be able to clear up some confusion within the LGBT community about their new opportunity to legally wed and the real estate and tax implications involved. The division will host a series of events to educate LGBT customers about the real estate process, such as its April 26 “Pride of Ownership” event that will highlight home finance options, title transfer rights, and taxes.